‘Tal, come on!’ One of the three lifts had arrived at their floor and stood invitingly open. To access the restricted upper floors, Luis’s palm print was required. He slapped his right hand onto the reader. The lift started its smooth ascent.
Brad would be their first obstacle, as he was rostered to do his extra shift on the fourth floor. Tal said to Luis, ‘How did it go with Brad?’
‘You were right, he is a lazy bastard. “Go get a coffee, take it easy, I’ll keep an eye on things,” I said. He’d gone before I’d finished speaking.’
When the lift door hissed open, Luis peered out before motioning to Frank and Tal to follow him. A forlorn nameplate at the deserted reception desk announced that Gloria should be sitting there.
Two days earlier, when hacking into the centre’s database to check who was authorised to enter the restricted fourth floor, George had discovered that Gloria had resigned. Luis confirmed this, saying, ‘Gloria’s one tough lady. She could put up with being hounded by reporters, but when she found one of those little air cams hiding under her kitchen bench, it was the final straw.’
Sorry, Gloria, we lost your job for you.
‘Tal? You coming?’
They hurried down a luxuriously carpeted hallway to a heavy metal door. Luis stared into the iris reader and the lock disengaged. ‘He’s in cell one, at the very end of the corridor. There’s a switch on the wall to unlock the door.’
As they ran down the corridor, Frank tugged a ski mask and a spray can from the back pocket of his voluminous pants. When they reached cell one, he pulled the mask on. After a test spray of the paint, Frank said, ‘Okay, open it.’
Tal threw the switch and Frank leapt through the door. Locating the lens of the surveillance camera in the ceiling, he blinded it with a blast of black paint. Another blast choked the microphone beside it.
Following him into the cell, Tal found Rick curled in a foetal position on the bed. He didn’t stir.
‘I’ll wake him up,’ Tal said to Frank, who was stripping off his oversized jumper. ‘You get his clothes ready.’
Under his jumper, Frank was wearing the T-shirt Petra had provided for Rick. The jeans were wound around his waist and the thongs were shoved into the side pockets of his tracksuit pants.
Tal shook Rick’s shoulder. ‘Hey, Rick, wake up. We’re here to take you home.’
Slowly he opened bleary eyes, then slid them shut again. ‘Go away.’
‘Rick! Come on!’ Tal hauled him into a sitting position. ‘We haven’t got much time.’
Rick squinted at him. ‘Is it really you?’
‘Yes, it’s really me. And Frank. Can you stand up? We’ve got to get you changed.’
With Tal’s assistance, Rick got to his feet and stood, swaying. ‘I’m dizzy.’
Getting Rick into jeans, T-shirt and thongs was like dressing a sleepy child. He tried to cooperate, but he was clumsy and uncoordinated.
Attaching the fake ID, Frank said, ‘Do you think he can walk?’
Rick had closed his eyes again. Tal took his arm, led him to the metal basin and splashed his face with cold water. ‘We’ve got to get you out of here. Can you walk?’
Rick nodded. ‘Sure.’
Frank put on his huge jumper again, shoved the sleeves up past his elbows, and grabbed Rick’s other arm. ‘Let’s go!’
They half-dragged Rick down the corridor to the security door where Luis was waiting.
Luis got out of the lift at the third floor, leaving them to continue to the foyer.
‘He’s lost a thong,’ said Frank, wrenching the remaining one off Rick’s foot. ‘You’ll have to go barefoot, mate.’
The second floor held medical offices and examining rooms. It was always busy, so when the lift stopped a bunch of people got on, forcing them to move to the back. One guy in a white medical coat frowned at Rick. Tal checked his name tag. Felix. It meant nothing to him, but still Tal felt a shiver of alarm. The guy looked away. No one else seemed to notice that Rick was semi-conscious and would have fallen without Tal and Frank propping him up.
At the foyer level half the passengers got off, including Felix, who hurried away without a backward glance. The people still in the lift were continuing down to the underground parking, so Tal and Frank had to shuffle Rick through them. ‘He’s sick,’ Tal told one woman who stared at Rick with concern.
He stood compliantly between them as Tal scanned the foyer, praying Cilla wouldn’t be there. They could easily fool Scot, the guard on the scanner, but Cilla would know something was wrong immediately.
Tal’s heart sank. There she was outside the entrance, arguing with reporters and cam operators. Beside her, Scot stood with his hands in his pockets, looking bored. Cilla gestured vehemently at a cluster of Cyclops-eyed air cams pressed against the glass wall, peering into the building.
With relief he saw Petra and Jennie with the Clear Minds contingent who were obviously preparing to stage a demonstration.
‘Shit!’ said Frank. ‘Here comes trouble.’
A second lift was disgorging passengers. Roughly pushing his way through them was a furious Howard Unwin. As he got close to them, Tal saw that Rick’s wild punch had left the doctor’s lip painfully swollen. Behind Unwin came Carter Renfrew, looking ill.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing with my patient?’ Unwin snarled. Hearing his angry tone, several people stopped to watch.
‘Our patient,’ said Renfrew.
Unwin ignored him. ‘You have no right to remove anyone under my care from the premises.’ Rick shrank back as Unwin attempted to grab his shoulder. ‘You’re coming with me, young man.’
There was an interested murmur from the small but growing crowd.
‘No, he isn’t.’ Tal put out his free hand and shoved Unwin hard in the chest. ‘You and Dr Renfrew have been treating Rick like a lab rat, not a patient.’
Red with fury, Unwin raised his clenched fists. ‘Keep your hands off me, boy!’
‘If you’re going to have a fight,’ said Frank, ‘there’s quite an audience.’ He pointed towards the entrance.
Not only was the cluster of air cams growing, the Clear Minds Forever members, most wearing masks, had collected at the sliding glass doors. Petra had disappeared, but Jennie was there beside Hugo Z, who was urging them on. Paying no attention to Cilla and Scot’s efforts to move them away from the entrance, the group began to chant, ‘Clear minds forever! And ever! And ever!’
‘One last chance,’ Unwin ground out. ‘Leave Rick and get the hell out of here. If you do that, I won’t press charges.’
‘Rick’s the one who’ll be pressing charges against you,’ Tal retorted.
‘Who’d believe a word?’ Unwin gestured disdainfully at Rick, who sagged between them. ‘Take a look. He’s obviously incapable of rational thought. Anything he says will be totally unreliable.’
‘Howard, we went too far,’ said Renfrew. ‘Let him go.’ Unwin ignored him.
A lift opened and Brad ambled out. Seeing the doctors, he made a half-hearted effort to tuck in his uniform shirt. ‘Someone said there was an emergency.’
Unwin glared at him. ‘Get the other guards in here – they’re useless outside. They can deal with these fools while you take my patient back to his room.’
Tal saw Cilla look up as Brad spoke to her through a protected security link. She activated the entrance doors long enough to allow her and Scot to slip through.
‘Look!’ said Frank, fascinated. ‘I haven’t seen a Snooper until now.’
The guards hadn’t entered the building alone. A swarm of miniature air cams whipped past them, and spread out across the foyer.
The clump of spectators who’d been watching the confrontation scattered as a formation of Snoopers zoomed towards them.
Unwin swiped at one that was diving to inspect his face. ‘You!’ he yelled at Cilla. ‘Get rid of them!’
‘Sir, I don’t know how.’
‘They’re recording everything we say a
nd do,’ said Renfrew. He looked up at the little device hovering above his head. ‘This is Dr Carter Renfrew of The Farront Centre. I’m making this official. We’re sending Rick Lawrence home.’
‘You stupid –’ Unwin broke off and spun around to face Cilla and the other two guards. ‘Escort my patient back to the fourth floor immediately.’
‘No, don’t,’ said Renfrew. ‘And that’s an order.’
Unwin gave a contemptuous snort. ‘And take Dr Renfrew with you. He’s obviously suffered a breakdown.’
‘That’s absolute nonsense, and you know it!’
‘I’m admitting Dr Renfrew to the psychiatric ward. Take him there at once.’
‘The moment you lay a hand on me, you’ll be fired!’
While the guards paused, irresolute, Tal whispered to Frank, ‘Let’s go.’
They hoisted Rick up and began an awkward run across the foyer to the sliding doors. They skidded to a stop at the scanning station. ‘I think I can work the doors,’ said Frank as he leaned over the scanner to eyeball the control panel.
Glancing back over his shoulder, Tal saw that none of the Snoopers had followed them. They were concentrated on the physical fight that had broken out between the two doctors. As Tal watched, Renfrew shoulder-charged Unwin and they both went down in an untidy tangle of arms and legs.
‘You kids, stop!’
‘Frank, it’s Cilla. She’s after us. Hurry up.’
The entrance doors slid fully open. Led by Hugo Z, Jennie and a wave of Clear Minds Forever supporters swept in, swamping Cilla. Although she struggled wildly, the momentum of the charge pushed her back across the lobby.
As soon as the way was clear, Tal and Frank dragged Rick out into a media pandemonium. Reporters raised their voices above the shrieking sirens of squad cars and the noise from a crowd of spectators, all of whom seemed greatly entertained by Grandeur Media’s contribution – live images of the fight projected on the wall of the building.
Petra, who’d been waiting for them just outside the entrance, looked at Rick with horror. ‘Oh, poor Rick. What’ve they done to you?’
‘We’ve got to get moving,’ said Tal urgently.
‘Over there,’ said Petra, pointing to David, who was signalling from the edge of the thickening crowd. ‘Dr Stein’s waiting in his car on the access road.’
‘Awesome, dudes,’ said David admiringly when they reached him. He looked at Rick with concern. ‘He’s totally out of it?’
‘Pretty well. Frank and I will carry him, if you go ahead and make a way for us.’
‘I’ve got two urgent messages for you,’ said David, ‘but they can wait until Rick’s in Dr Stein’s car.’
Petra and David forged through the crush, at times pushing and shoving to make a path. Petra flung herself into the task, yelling ‘Medical emergency! Make way!’ whenever anyone showed a reluctance to move.
They were in sight of Dr Stein’s vehicle, an anonymous dark blue sedan, when Jennie caught up with them.
‘Did you see what happened with the fight?’ Tal asked.
She chuckled. ‘The cops arrived and arrested them both. Clear Minds formed a cordon of dishonour, and applauded Unwin and Renfrew all the way to the squad car.’
Dr Stein was waiting impatiently. ‘Put him in the back.’ He gave Rick a quick examination. Grim-faced, he said, ‘I’m taking him straight to my clinic. Could one of you travel with him?’
‘I’ll go,’ said Jennie.
‘What about Rick’s grandmother?’ Tal asked Dr Stein.
‘I’ve spoken to her and explained why Rick’s being moved to my clinic. She’ll be meeting us there.’
‘Omigod,’ said Petra, ‘if I saw my grandson’s doctors rolling around on the floor fighting each other, I’d want Rick moved away from them quick as.’
Watching the car speed away, Tal said to David, ‘You said I had two urgent messages?’
‘One’s from your mum. She called the centre and when they couldn’t find you, she called around our parents. George told his dad he could get a message to you. He passed it on to me, so here it is: Go home immediately. Your mother says it’s vital.’
‘What’s the second message?’
‘It’s from George,’ said David, ‘and it’s the same – go home – except he wants to meet you outside first. George says he’s got something sensational to do with Villabona. He wouldn’t say what it was.’
THIRTY-ONE
Audrey’s luxurious Mercedes was parked in front of the house. Rob steered around it and pulled into the driveway, stopping near Tal and George, who were in a huddle by the garage door.
Leaping out of his compact electric car, plastered with FinagleAlert logos, he said urgently, ‘Tal, what are you doing out here? Didn’t Grace get you? She’s trying to cope with Audrey Farront and Joe Villabona by herself.’ He changed gear to say, ‘And by the way, congratulations on your activities this afternoon. It’s all over the internet. Renfrew and Unwin’s reputations are in tatters.’
‘George has got hold of something that will nail Joe Villabona too.’
George was his usual dishevelled self. The many pockets on his frayed shorts bulged with mystery contents, and his grubby T-shirt had a coffee stain dribbled down the front.
Rob looked George up and down, his disapproval plain. ‘I’ve done some research on you, George Everett. We’ll talk later about hacking into FinagleAlert’s database.’
‘Don’t blame me. Blame your security.’
‘Forget the break-in,’ said Tal, impatient with both of them. ‘Rob, look at what we’ve got on Villabona. It hasn’t been released yet, but George says it will be any moment.’
As he leafed through the pages Tal thrust at him, Rob’s eyes widened. ‘These are internal Interpol documents. Highly confidential documents. How did you get them?’
‘I’m a cyber god,’ said George with a smirk.
Tal’s mother looked distraught when she opened the front door. ‘Hello, George,’ she said absently, too upset to wonder why he was there. ‘Tal, what took you so long? Audrey and Joe arrived almost two hours ago. Audrey’s taking legal action against you for initiating the cyber attack on Farront. And naming me, Rob and Victor as accomplices. I’ve said it isn’t true, but Audrey and Joe claim to have irrefutable evidence.’
Looking past them, she spied Rob in the front seat of his car, talking on his comm. ‘Isn’t Rob coming in? I need him here.’
‘He has to make a couple of calls.’
‘At a time like this?’ she said, near tears.
‘It’ll be okay, Mum.’
‘It won’t, you know! Audrey’s just fired me. I don’t have an income, and we’ll need lawyers to defend the charges, and you know how much that will cost. And the fracas this morning at the centre …’ She shook her head. ‘I’m glad you rescued Rick, but you’ve just given Audrey another reason to sue.’
‘Awesome, wasn’t it?’ said George, beaming. ‘Tal and the others are heroes, don’t you think?’
‘Heroes who could find themselves locked in a cell,’ she said bitterly.
‘Mum, it really is okay.’
Rob got out of his car and hurried over to them. ‘Grace, let’s go in and slay the dragons.’ He nodded to Tal and George. ‘All set.’
Tal followed his mother and Rob into the living room, George tagging behind with the documents tucked under one arm. The wall screen, audio off, was showing images taken at The Farront Centre that morning. Caught by Snoopers, Tal saw himself and Frank supporting Rick as Carter Renfrew mouthed the words, ‘We’re sending Rick Lawrence home.’ Footage of the undignified brawl between the two doctors followed.
Audrey got to her feet, her grey eyes steely. ‘Well, young man,’ she said to Tal, ‘you’re going to find the unconscionable cyber war you had the temerity to launch against me very costly. Very costly indeed. As for your disgraceful shenanigans today –’ she threw up her hands – ‘you’ve done your best to destroy the careers of two fine doctors.�
��
Joe Villabona, who had remained comfortably seated in a lounge chair, added, ‘And you’ve also ruined your mother’s career, I hope you realise that.’
‘I rather think that was your work, Joe,’ was Grace’s acerbic response.
Audrey was inspecting George’s appearance with obvious displeasure. ‘And you are …?’
‘My friend, George Everett,’ said Tal.
‘You can leave, Mr Everett. This has nothing to do with you.’
‘You heard her,’ said Villabona, when George didn’t move. ‘Get out, kid.’
‘Last time I looked,’ said Rob, ‘this was Grace’s house. It’s her decision who stays or leaves.’
‘You’ll want George to stay,’ Tal told Audrey. ‘He has some interesting information for you.’
Villabona put his hands on the arms of the lounge chair, preparing to stand. Smiling arrogantly, he warned George, ‘Don’t make me get up and throw you out.’
‘Mr Villabona, does the name Javier Jiminez sound familiar to you?’ asked Tal.
‘Or Miguel Cruz?’ added George.
Villabona’s face went blank. He got slowly to his feet, his dark eyes fixed on Tal.
‘Who are these people, Joe?’ Audrey asked. ‘Do you recognise the names?’
‘Complete strangers to me.’
Tal took the documents from George and gestured with them. ‘That’s odd, because right here Interpol lists those names as two of your aliases.’
Both Tal’s mother and Audrey looked stunned. ‘Interpol?’ Audrey said.
‘The International Criminal Police Organization,’ George put in helpfully. ‘Jiminez and Cruz are wanted in several countries for fraud and murder.’
Villabona was balanced on the balls of his feet, ready to move in any direction. ‘A stupid case of mistaken identity.’
Even though he knew he was no match for Villabona physically, Tal moved to block the doorway.
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